In a typical network-based merchandising environment, a user can search for items (i.e., goods and/or services) within a category or group of items in an electronic item catalog. A catalog of items (including each item's description) may be organized into a browse tree structure in order to facilitate searching. As the name suggests, a “browse” tree permits users to browse through various items, which are logically arranged in the form of a hierarchical tree. Each node of the tree (a browse node) may be associated with a category of items in a hierarchical manner. Moreover, the browse tree may be displayed via a user interface as a collection of hyperlinks, each hyperlink corresponding and providing further access to a browse node of the tree. For example, the “root” node of a tree representing all items has many browse nodes corresponding to categories such as “books,” “electronics,” “gourmet food,” etc. Each such browse node may have different child browse nodes representing sub-categories.
For example, a parent browse node such as “gourmet food” may have a number of child browse nodes such as “Fruits & Vegetables,” “seasonal,” etc. Accordingly, to find an item within the gourmet food category, a user may select a hyperlink associated with the child browse node coded Fruits & Vegetables. Selecting Fruits & Vegetables will display a list of further child browse nodes or presenting sub-categories including “cheese baskets.” In turn, selecting “cheese baskets” will display a list of available cheese baskets for purchase. In this manner, a user can search through a browse tree and locate the specific items of interest for purchase. However, if the user is interested in additional information and attributes regarding a specific item or category of items, such as “price,” “origin,” or “cuisine” the user must further refine his search by selecting specific values for such attributes. For example, the user may be interested in food from a particular region of origin or cuisine, such as Italy, in the price range of $50 to $100. Currently, if the user wants to browse additional items in the same price range and from the same region of origin, the user may have to navigate back up the browse tree toward the root (i.e., more general item categories) and go back down another branch of the browse tree toward another new sub-category of items of interest. When the user reaches the new sub-category, he would have to reenter the values for the attributes, such as the price range and the region of origin, to refine his search for the new item of interest. This process can be cumbersome and time consuming.